Splatalot One Shots
by mrs.kookaburra.splatalot
Summary: A number of short stories from Splatalot
1. Chapter 1

**Gildar's Bad Hair Day**

It was a quiet morning in the kingdom of Splatalot, everyone was getting ready for the day when that quiet was soon disturbed by Gildar storming out of his room.

"Okay, which one of you has hidden my hair conditioner?" he shouted.

His hair was standing out at all angles and wasn't as bright and shiny as it usually was. Gildar looked to his right to where Kook was standing.

"What are you looking at me for?" he asked. "What would I want with your conditioner?"

"Well I'm not going outside until I find it, look at the state of me."

"Your hair looks fine." said Ballista.

"Don't lie to me."

"You could wear a hat." Kook suggested.

"And get hat hair? I don't think so."

"Well, it's up to you, either wear a hat and get hat hair, or go out there and get humiliated."

It was a no brainer, Gildar was going to have to wear a hat.

"Fine, I'll go for the hat. But I won't have to do this if you just gave me my conditioner back."

"What makes you think that its me?"

"Well you're the one most likely to do something like this. You're my prime suspect Kook."

Gildar stormed back into his room to get the only hat that he had, it was a floppy woolen winter hat with a bit pompom on the top, Gildar looked at himself in the mirror as he put it on, he felt so humiliated.

Hours went by on defense duty without anyone saying a word to Gildar, which he was happy about, the last thing that he wanted now was to explain everything.

"Gildar, my dear, why on earth are you wearing that ridiculous hat?" Knightriss asked.

"I don't really want to say." Gildar replied.

"Go on, what is it?" Thorne asked.

Gildar sighed. "Alright. I can't find my hair conditioner. Someone's hidden it, I think that it's Kook."

"Are you sure that you just didn't misplace it?" Shaiden suggested.

"No, I've got a specific place for all of my hair products and it's not where it should be."

"You'll find it soon enough." said Crocness.

"It wasn't one of you who hid it was it?"

"No." Skabb replied.

_"It has to be Kook, he's the only one who would play a prank like this."_ he thought.

Later on that day, Gildar still hadn't found his conditioner, this was all becoming ridiculous, but Gildar was convinced that this was definitely the work of a certain purple and green bird, even if Kook won't admit it, he'll have to find the proof himself, later on that day, Kook was walking down the corridor towards Gildar, now would be the time to wrap up this mystery. He might startle Kook though, his hair was now worse than this morning.

"Kook, we need to talk." he said running over.

"Whoa." Kook replied, jumping back. "That is really one serious case of hat hair."

"That's not important. No one else has hidden my hair conditioner and no one else would do something like that."

"You don't still think that it's me do you?"

"Well you're the only one who plays pranks around here, you're always joking around. Who else could it be?"

"Are you sure that you've not just misplaced it?"

"No, it had a specific place and it's not there." Gildar wasn't giving up, sure he was lacking evidence, but there were no other suspects, it's not unusual for Kook to play a prank on Gildar, it normally happens every other week, like a ritual. Before there was a chance for anymore clues, the clock struck ten, end of the day for the defenders. "Right, this conversation isn't over. I'm watching you Kook."

Gildar walked back to his room, why won't Kook just admit it, it's obviously him, he's the only one who'd do something like this, and no one else has admitted it. As Gildar walked in, something caught his eye, something that wasn't right, he slowly looked to his right and poking out from under his bed was a small white bottle, he recognized it straight away, it was his conditioner.

"Ah."

The next morning, Gildar had to apologize to Kook about what he said to him yesterday, it wasn't right to criticize Kook for it anyway, he couldn't even prove that it was Kook's fault.

"Kook, I need to talk to you again." he said.

"I see that you found your conditioner." Kook replied.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was a bit hard on you."

"Apology accepted. did someone finally give it back or did you find it?"

"It was my fault. I must have dropped it and accidentally kicked it under my bed."

"Ha ha! You idiot Gildar."

Gildar's cheeks started to burn up with embarrassment, but Kook did have a point, he was such an idiot to let something like this get to his so much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Scaredy Cat Kook**

It was incredibly dark that night, the light from the moon was blocked out by the thick rain clouds, the thunder crashed and the lightning flashed, pretty appropriate for a halloween night. Kook stood by the window looking out to the darkness, the rain falling inches from his face.

"I wish that this rain would stop." he said sighing. "I need to get out, stretch my wings."

"Stop moaning Kook." Skabb replied. "Just come and sit down, watch some TV."

Kook sighed again, and slowly moved away from the window. With his hands in his pockets, he sat down on the sofa next to Gildar, as Skabb pressed the button on the remote to turn the TV on, there was a loud bang and everything went dark.

"AGH!" Kook screamed. The electric had gone off.

"Kook, get off me." said Gildar in the darkness.

Kook then realised, in shock, he'd jumped up onto Gildar's back, he quickly jumped down.

"Sorry Gildar, I was just a bit startled." he said landing on the floor.

"Or were you scared?" Ballista asked.

"What? No, no no no."

"So what are we going to do until the power comes back on?" Thorne asked.

"I know. We'll tell scary stories." Skabb suggested.

"Erm..." Kook started. "Are you sure that you wanted to do that? I mean, I don't want any of you guys to get scared."

"Or is it you who's going to get scared?"

"No, no I don't scare that easily."

Everyone gathered in a circle and shared the scariest stories they could think of, Kook sat in silence with his knees brought up close to his chest, there had been stories about vampires, monsters and zombies, from Gildar, Shaiden and Skabb, soon it was Ballista's turn.

"It was cold and dark in the woods. They walked further and watched as everything got darker and colder around them, What they didn't know was that they were being watched. There was something by the trees, hidden in the shadows, that creature...A WEREWOLF!" Kook jumped as she raised her voice. "They started to pick up speed, soon they were running for their lives, but they were too slow, and those two poor sould were never seen ever, ever again."

There was silence when she stopped talking.

"Are you okay Kook?" Gildar asked.

"Oh, erm...yeah." Kook replied, his voice slightly shaking. "I'm just a bit cold."

The room suddenly got a lot darker as the fire slowly started to die down, and the firewood was pretty much used up.

"Kookaburra, would you be a dear and go and get some more firewood, we seem to have run out." Knightriss asked.

Kook froze. "What? You mean...out there? In the cold?"

"Yeah, unless your scared." said Ballista.

"No, there's nothing out there that would scare me."

"Go on then."

"Okay, fine. I will."

Kook slowly stood up and walked out of the castle, as he was walking towards the doors, Ballista's story was still ringing in his ears. As he slowly approached the front doors, his hands started to shake as he grabbed the door handle.

"Come on Kook, there's nothing to be scared of." He said to himself. "There's no such thing as werewolves, it was just a story. There's nothing out there."

The sounds of the night filled the corridor as he opened the doors, which was pretty much nothing, the rain had stopped and the wind had died down, but apart from that...not a sound. Kook gulped and looked around the surrounding area for danger.

"Come on Kook, there's nothing to be worried about." he thought. "On the count of three, just run for it. One...two...three!"

Kook ran, he ran faster than he'd ever ran before, he didn't stop until he was deep in the woods, he looked around him, to check for any danger. When we was convinced that he was completely safe, he returned to the task he was given, there was plenty of firewood around, he'd have collected enough in no time, which pleased Kook very much.

As Kook turned around and was about to walk back to the castle, he heard a twig snap loudly from behind him, he spun around instantly.

"Who's there?" he asked. There was no reply. "Gildar, is this you? If it is stop it, it's not funny and I know what funny is, this isn't it."

A wolf howled in the distance and Kook could take it no longer, with the firewood still in his arms, he ran back to the castle, as fast as he could and not looking back, if he was being followed by something, he didn't want to know what it was.

When Kook was safe inside the castle walls, he could relax, he'd made it, if there was something out there, he'd survived it. Kook leaned back against the doors to catch his breath.

"You okay Kook?" Shaiden asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kook replied, his voice slightly shaking.

"Did you get the firewood?"

"Yep."

As he handed the wood over to Shaiden, his hands started to tremble violently.

"You look really pale, are you sure that you're alright?"

"Yeah, I told you, I'm fine."

"You were scared weren't you?"

"No."

"You were. Come on Kook, tell the truth."

"Alright, fine. I was scared, alright?"

"You should have told us."

"You would've just laughed."

"No we wouldn't."

"Wouldn't you?"

"No, we're your friends. We wouldn't laugh at that."

"I'm not normally scared at stuff like this. It's becuase of that story Ballista told."

"But that was a story, there's no such thing as werewolves."

"Yeah true. I mean what's out there that could hurt me?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Ballista's Bedtime Terror**

It was late that night as an exhausted Ballista and Shaiden walked to their rooms for a well deserved rest. Halfway down the corridor, Ballista had to talk to Shaiden about something, something that had been bothering her for a while.

"Shaiden, can I tell you something?" Ballista asked.

"Why, is something bothering you?"

"It's just something that I've been thinking about recently. Do you think that Gildar ever thinks about anyone else than himself?"

"When you say "anyone" do you mean girls?"

"Yeah, do you think that he'd ever want to date someone?"

"Are you telling me that you've got a crush on Gildar?"

Ballista went silent, as her cheeks started to burn with embarrassment.

"It's okay Ballista, everyone gets a crush every now and again, I'm sure that if you talk to Gildar about it, he'll be fine with it."

"I suppose so. Thanks Shaiden."

"Your welcome."

"See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

As Ballista got ready for bed, she was still thinking about Shaiden's advice, what would Gildar say or probably do when she tells him her secret, and how could she tell him, she can't just go barging in there, she continued to think about it until she fell into a deep sleep.

When Ballista woke up, the sun was shining through a small gap in her curtains, she slowly stumbled out of her bed and got ready for the day ahead. As she walked down the corridor, every one else was gathered in the hall waiting for her, when Ballista saw Gildar, she automatically started to walk towards him, she had to tell him.

"Morning Gildar." she said.

"Morning." Gildar replied.

_"It doesn't matter if he doesn't feel the same way Ballista, there's other guys out there."_ she thought. "Gildar, can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ballista took a deep breath and was about to share her thoughts, when the sound of the attack alarm thundered through the corridors, Kook had spotted attackers approaching, and it had to be now, the worst timing possible.

_"Dang!"_ Ballista thought.

Everyone dashed down to the castle walls, Ballista was armed with her Splatbow ready to defend, she was shocked to see that this wasn't just a small bunch of attackers like they have in the past, this was a whole army and they were approaching fast. Everyone started to fire, a number of the attackers went down, but more of them were getting closer and closer to the castle gates, they couldn't hold them off any longer.

"Everyone to the gates!" Knightriss commanded.

Ballista didn't give it a second thought, she'd do anything to defend the kingdom from harm, this was her home and all of her friends are here, no one should dare take it away from her.

Attackers were flooding through the gates, there was a whirlwind of steel as swords went crashing, arrows were flying and people were falling, Ballista knew that death was facing her, but with the fate of the kingdom resting on her shoulders, she couldn't let that stop her.

"Vane, look out!" Faetal shrieked.

Ballista turned to see Vane sinking to the ground, he had his left hand clutching his right shoulder, Ballista jumped past people to get to him.

"Vane! Are you okay?" Ballista asked, as she helped him up onto his feet, that was when she noticed the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll be okay, I may have to sit this one out now. Just defend the castle."

Ballista left Vane out of anymore harms way, and got back to the task in hand, things were starting to get a bit better, they were finally starting to get an advantage over the attackers. Everything was going perfectly until Ballista noticed something that made her freeze, Kook was aiming his Sling Splatter at an attacker sneaking up behind Shaiden.

"Kook, what are you doing?" Ballista screamed.

Kook didn't answer, he released the Sling Splatter, the ammunition flew towards this attacker striking them on the back of the head, they turned towards Kook, at that point Ballista didn't see much else, she was too busy in a fight of her own. When she turned back to Kook, her heart skipped, Kook was hunched over in pain, as if he'd been punched in the guts, the position of the attacker made it seem like that too, but when Ballista saw the blood, she knew it was serious, Kook was fatally wounded.

"KOOK!" she shrieked as Kook sank to the ground, the attacker backed away and disappeared into the crowd. Ballista ran over to Kook, blood covered his hands and was running down his arms, Ballista lifted up Kook's head and put her left hand firmly on the wound to stop most of the bleeding. "Kook, what were you thinking?" she asked.

"I...I couldn't have let him hurt Sh...Shaiden." Kook stammered.

"I'm sure that you're going to be alright, if we get you some help."

Kook's eyes were now only half open. "No, it's too late for that Ballista, every defender has their time to hand over the weapons, and I guess it's my turn."

"Don't say that."

"I guess that I was a bit stupid."

Ballista's eyes started to sting with the tears. "You're not stupid, you're a great defender."

Kook smiled and coughed. "Tell Gildar that I'm sorry for...for all those j-jokes and pranks that I...I played on him."

"Okay."

"And can you do one more thing for me?" A small tear fell from Kook's eye. "Can you tell Shaiden that...that I love her?"

"I will."

Kook smiled. "Thank you."

His eyes slowly started to close as he passed away, his breathing stopped and his body went still.

"Kook? Kook!" Ballista slowly lowered Kook's head back down and stood back up. _"That's it. It ends now."_ she thought.

The enemy were starting to drop like flies, and Ballista was starting to get her confidence back, they were still outnumbered, they'd already lost two defenders, one injured and one lost for good, Ballista was convinced that she wasn't going to let anyone else go.

As Shaiden screamed Ballista jumped into action once again.

"Shaiden, are you alright?" she asked.

Shaiden was in obvious trouble, she was in pain, both Ballista and Thorne ran over to her. As Ballista got closer to Shaiden, she noticed a deep cut that she had on her right side.

"Are you alright sis?" Thorne asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure that I'll be fine."

"Get yourself somewhere safe."

Suddenly there was an agonizing scream from Thorne, Ballista looked at his left shoulder, and was shocked to see an arrow embedded within it, Ballista saw the archer that had fired the arrow, she aimed her Splatbow at their chest, as they turned to run away, Ballista fired, the ammunition striking them in the back, they sank to the ground instantly.

"Both of you get out of here." said Ballista. "And Shaiden."

"Yeah?"

"Kook wanted me to tell you that...that he loves you."

"Where is Kook?"

"He's...he's dead."

Shaiden's eyes filled up with tears, and she buried her face into Thorne's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." said Ballista.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault."

When Shaiden and Thorne were out of the way, Ballista was instantly back to fighting, now four of them were out, Ballista looked over to where Gildar was fighting, Gildar noticed Ballista's gaze, as their eyes met, Gildar smiled, Ballista could feel her cheeks burning again. When she saw someone creeping up behind Gildar, and someone also aiming an arrow at Gildar, she went into panic.

"Gildar, look out!" she screamed.

Before Gildar could react, both people stuck, Gildar was brought to the ground from a stab in the back, and an arrow in the arm. Ballista forgot about everything else and dashed to Gildar's aid. She held his head up like she'd done before with Kook.

"No, no not you Gildar." she sobbed.

"What do you mean?"

"Because I wanted to tell you something, but now it's not going to mean anything."

"Well, say it now while you still have the chance."

Tears were streaming from Ballista's eyes, she lowered her head in embarrassment, before looking back into Gildar's eyes. "I like you Gildar." she whispered.

"I can see why."

Ballista smiled, she'd finally confessed, but it didn't make her feel better, knowing that she was about to lose him.

"Talk about being stabbed in the back, eh?" Gildar chuckled, before his eyes closed and his body went limp.

"No, no!" Ballista sobbed, holding Gildar's body close to hers.

"Ballista, look behind you!" Crocness shouted.

Ballista turned to look behind her, someone was dashing over to her brandishing they're sword, Ballista knew that death was coming her way, as they plunged forward with the sword...she woke up, safe and sound in her room.

"What the..." Ballista said before sighing with relief. "Thank heavens, it was just a dream."

As she walked out of her room, when she was ready for the day, the first person she saw was Shaiden, walking towards her.

"Morning Ballista." she said.

Ballista was so relieved to see her, she couldn't help herself, she ran towards Shaiden and flung her arms around her.

"What's wrong now?" Shaiden asked.

"Sorry, I just had a bad dream." Ballista explained. "And I'm glad that it was, what happened there I seriously couldn't live with, not without my friends."


	4. Chapter 4

**Kook's Valentine**

There was a slight hint of love in the air that Splatalot morning, it was a romantic time of year, the fourteenth of february, valentines day, everyone was at least expecting something in the post, Shaiden came running over to Ballista that sunny morning.

"Ballista, you've got a valentines day card." she said, waving the envelope in the air before handing it over. "I think you've got an admirer."

Rather excited, Ballista tore the envelope open and pulled out a bright red card, decorated with a number of red and pink hearts, there was a small poem inside, all of it handwritten, she read each word carefully.

"Dear Ballista, I love your hair, I love your eyes, you're so beautiful and it's no surprise, trust me I can make you shine, if you'll be my valentine. Love Gildar X." it said.

"Gildar." Ballista whispered.

"What?" Shaiden replied with surprise.

"It's from Gildar."

"You two look excited, what's the situation?" Kook asked walking over.

"Ballista's just got a valentines card from Gildar." Shaiden explained.

"Gildar? Wow, I didn't know he had it in him." There was a slight pause. "Was there anything for me in the post?"

"No."

"Typical." Kook mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing."

Kook walked away, his head hanging low and his hands in his pockets. _"Every year, same old thing."_ he thought to himself.

"What's up with him?" Ballista asked.

"Maybe, he's expecting something."

"I bet that he's expecting a valentine...maybe if you..."

"You mean I should..."

"He has a crush on you."

_"I couldn't...could I?"_ Shaiden thought, looking over at the purple and green bird walking away from them.

Later that day, Kook was still in a miserable mood, he was stood at the battlements all by himself looking down into the moat, he sighed as a small singular tear ran down his cheek, dripping into the moat.

"Kook, are you okay?" Shaiden asked, standing next to him.

"Oh, hey Shaiden. No, I'm not okay."

"You seemed rather upset back there with Ballista's card, is there something bothering you?"

"Yeah, there is actually."

"What is it?"

"Nothing important."

"But if it's bothering you, you need to tell someone."

"Really, it's nothing important."

"Come on Kook, you can tell a friend."

"Just stop it! I have something on my mind, and I don't want to tell you, just leave it at that!"

Kook quickly stormed off, that is very rare for someone like Kook, Shaiden stood exactly where she was and watched Kook walk away.

That evening, Shaiden was still incredibly worried about Kook, his behaviour hadn't really changed, he was staying out of everyone's way, some of the others noticed this strange behaviour, not in Kook, in Shaiden.

"Are you okay Shaiden? You look concerned." Faetal asked.

"Yeah, I've just been thinking about Kook."

Faetal looked at Shaiden, with that sort of supicious look.

"No, I don't mean it like that, it's just that Kook's been acting really weird today."

"Weirder than usual, this is Kookaburra we're talking about."

"I know, but he's normally cheerful and he's always laughing and messing around. But today he's the complete opposite."

"Just ask him about it."

"I've already tried, but he just yelled at me."

"Okay, I'll admit it, this is not like him."

Shaiden thought for a moment, she had to get to the bottom of this. "I'm going to go and take a walk, I need to think." she said.

"Okay."

As Shaiden walked away she continued to think, what could have Kook so frustrated? Shaiden was so deep into her thoughts, she wasn't keeping an eye on where she was going, and bumped into an also distracted Kookaburra.

"Oh, sorry Kook. I didn't see you there." said Shaiden.

"It's alright, I was just going for a walk." Kook replied.

"Oh, me too. Maybe we can walk together."

"Yeah, I've just got something to think about, it gets on my nerves every year."

"I've got a bit of thinking to do too."

"What's up?

"I'm worried about something, there's something not quite right going on and I just want to get to the bottom of it. What about you?"

"Nothing important, this happens to me every year and I just need a bit to time to think.

"What is it?"

"Like I said, it's nothing."

"But if there's something bothering you, maybe we can help you.

"It only happens once a year, so it's not worht worrying about."

Kook sat down on a nearby bench by the pond in the castle gardens and lowered his head.

"Is this something about Valentines Day?" Shaiden asked.

Kook didn't reply, Shaiden could see that this was really upsetting Kook, she walked over and slowly sat down on the bench next to him.

"You can tell me Kook."

Kook sighed. "Every year on Valentine's Day when I was growing up in Australia, I never got sent one Valentine's Day card." he explained.

"Not even from your girlfriend?"

"No, plus that was the day when we broke up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Kook, I never knew."

"I know."

"You shouldn't really let something like this get you down."

"I know, but it's been bothering me for so long."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, it's just that.

"Okay. Just remember Kook, I'm always here for you."

"Thanks Shaiden."

Later on that evening when everyone else had gone out, Shaiden, Thorne and Kook were the only ones left in the castle.

"Okay, we're going out, see you later." said Ballista.

"Have a good time." Shaiden replied.

"Yeah, good luck." Kook mumbled.

"Come on Kook, cheer up." said Thorne.

"Sorry, I just don't feel myself today."

"Let's just watch some TV, that'll take our minds off things." Shaiden suggested. "I think that they're just playing Romeo and Juliet on the movie channel."

Kook sighed. "I guess that'll do."

"Yeah, alright." Thorne agreed.

After thirty minutes into the movie it as the scene of the Capulet's party, Romeo has just seen Juliet and they're already in a relationship. Kook sighed again.

"They should put a bit more realism into this." he said.

"Like what?" Shaiden asked.

"Well when they get together, after they've just met, Romeo should have at least asked Juliet on a date." Kook's eyes started to shine with tears. "Then when he arrives at their arranged meeting place, he waits and waits for her, but she never shows up, then she blames him for all this and ends up dumping him after just a couple of months."

Shaiden looked up at Kook. "Wait, Kook are you referring to something that's happened to you?"

Kook lowered his head, and a small tear slowly rolled down his cheek, Shaiden reached over and held his hand.

"Kook, I was wondering, how about you and me go out for the night, just as friends." Shaiden suggested.

"Just friends?"

"Yeah."

Kook thought for a moment. "...Yeah, okay."


	5. Chapter 5

**A Day At The Beach**

It was a scorching hot morning in Splatalot, not a cloud in the sky and not a slightest breeze, everyone was trying their best to get cool, but there wasn't a chance with this weather.

"How hot can it get?" Skabb asked.

"Hopefully not any hotter than this." Shaiden replied.

"There must be some way to cool down."

"Until we get that air conditioning fixed there's no other way as far as I can see." Kook chipped in.

Eventually, Knightriss walked over, she seemed rather happy.

"Get your beach things together everyone, we're going away for the day." she said.

"To the beach?" Kook asked.

"Yes."

"Woo hoo!"

"Someone's happy." Thorne mumbled.

"I've been looking for a good excuse to try out my new swimsuit." said Ballista.

"Me too." Shaiden added.

"I was about to suggest either the beach of a water fight." said Kook.

"Well thank goodness the beach came first." Gildar whispered.

It was a fairly long journey to the beach, but the defenders arrived in less than three hours, the Splatalot castle was still safe from attack, some of the castle's guards were taking the defenders place.

The beach was pretty much deserted, so there wasn't much fuss on where to sit, the sun was shining bright above the defenders, there was a bit of a slight breeze coming off of the sea which cooled everyone down nicely.

"I feel better already." said Faetal, putting her towel down on the sand

"Me too." Shaiden replied, lying down.

Kook looked over at Gildar who was also lying down. Kook soon got a certain light bulb moment that only Kook would get.

"I think that'll go cool down in the sea for a bit." he said, backing away.

"I think I'll join you." Vane replied.

While no one was looking, Kook picked up a nearby yellow bucket, and hid it from view.

"Kook, what are you hiding?" Vane asked.

"Shh."

His plan was starting to come together.

"I think Kook's up to something." said Ballista, sitting up.

"As usual." Shaiden replied, closing her eyes tight.

Gildar was completely unaware of Kook's little plan, he was already fast asleep. What did Kook have planned, it would be traditional Kookaburra whatever it was.

"Kook, you're not up to something again are you bro?" Vane asked.

"Me? Up to something? What gave you that idea?"

"You've got a bucket and you're filling it with water."

"Alright, don't say anything, but my idea of a water fight, I'm not letting that go."

Vane rolled his eyes, yeah, this is traditional Kookaburra, someone was going to be getting soaked, and I think that we all know who that is going to be. Kook and Vane walked back down the beach after ten minutes, Gildar was still asleep and it would be fair to say that most of the others knew that Kook was up to something.

Kook put one finger to his lips telling everyone else to be quiet, everyone around Gildar quickly moved to one side, everyone knew that he was the target.

"Gildar." said Kook.

Gildars eyes slowly opened and Gildar slowly sat upright. "What?" he asked.

He saw the bucket full of water in Kook's hands and instantly tried to shield himself, but it was too late, the water went flying, drenching Gildar, mainly his hair, Kook burst out laughing as the water dripped down from Gildar's hair and as the water soaked through the skin tight t-shirt he had on.

"I'm gonna get you for that!" he said jumping up onto his feet.

Both Gildar and Kook started running down the beach, Kook was still laughing and could be heard all the way down the beach.

"I knew it." said Ballista, lying back down.

Both Kook and Gildar were out of breath when they came back.

"Kook, if my hair goes frizzy now, I'm blaming you." said Gildar.

"Come on Gildar, it's just a joke."

Gildar looked to his right and noticed another bucket filled with water, _"you know what to do"_ said a small quiet voice in his head, Gildar seized the opportunity, and poured the contents over Kook's head, Kook gasped as the cold water washed over his body,

"Hey." he said, wiping the water out of his eyes.

"Now we're even."

As the hours went by, everyone finally started to calm down, even Kook who was now fast asleep. A few minutes later, Gildar woke up, he was Kook was asleep and got another idea, without disturbing Kook, he clambered up onto his feet.

"I'll just be a minute." he whispered.

"Where are you going?" Ballista asked.

"Nowhere important."

Gildar quietly sneaked past the sleeping Kookaburra and started walking towards the shops lining the promenade.

"Okay, that was odd." Faetal mumbled.

After a few minutes, Gildar came back now with a small plastic bag in his hand.

"What's in the bag?" asked Vane.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Gildar sat back down and opened up the bag, he pulled out a small plastic lobster and gently put it on top of Kook's leg.

"Gildar, you're not stooping to Kook's level are you?" Madeva asked.

"Just a bit of revenge that's all."

For a bit of finishing touches Gildar added a bit of seaweed, now the lobster looked like it had just come up from the sea. When Gildar was confident with his work, he backed away slightly.

"Ballista, could you do the honors?" he asked.

Ballista sighed. "Fine." There was a slight pause. "Oh my God. Kook, what's that on your leg?"

Kook's eyes slowly opened, and looked down at his leg, suddenly his eyes went wide as he leaped up onto his feet.

"AGH!" he screamed.

Over at Kook's right, Gildar was sniggering away as he tried to keep in his laughter.

"Was that you Gildar?" Kook asked.

"Revenge is sweet."

"Okay chaps, that's enough." said Knightriss.

Soon it was midday, with the sun directly above them it was hotter than ever, the defenders were slowly starting to feel the heat increase.

"Fancy a swim girls?" Ballista asked.

"Okay." Shaiden replied, jumping up onto her feet.

Kook watched as the girls went down the beach, the sea was much closer than before, the tide was starting to come in, the girls were splashing around in the ocean waves, it looked like a really fun way to get cool, out of all the girls, Kook couldn't take his eyes off of Shaiden, even after all this time, his crush for her was still as strong.

"You okay Kook?" Gildar asked. "Kook."

Kook quickly snapped out of his trance. "Huh? Oh yeah, fine."

"Were you looking at my sister again?" Thorne asked.

Kook didn't reply.

"You still have a crush on her?"

"Maybe I do, what's so important about that?"

"Nothing."

Knightriss stood up and brushed herself down before looking around. "We should probably think about going back soon chaps, it's getting close to high tide." she said.

"Okay, let's just wait for the girls."

All of them wet and exhausted, the girls came back from their little water fight five minutes later, at which point everyone was packing up their things.

"You guys ready to go back?" Vane asked.

"So soon?" Shaiden replied, rolling up her towel.

"It only feels like two minutes since we arrived." Ballista added.

Everyone was a little bit disappointed about having to go back to the castle so soon, but at least they all had fun that day. After the long journey home, they realized something was different about the castle.

"Is it me or does it seem a bit cooler." Crocness asked.

"The air conditioning must be fixed." Thorne replied, putting his rucksack down.

"At last." Skabb sighed.

"But that doesn't mean we can't go again. I've really enjoyed it."

"Me too." said Kook.

"And I can guess what you enjoyed most." Gildar moaned.


	6. Chapter 6

**Splatalot High**

The defenders were eager to get to their classes that morning, it was a particularly quiet morning in the Splatalot High School, everyone was getting incredibly anxious at this time of year, it was close to the final exams and the school prom, everyone was excited about that.

The bell rang out for the first lesson, flocks of young wannabe defenders flooded through the doors, Splatalot's wannabe defenders poured into the classroom and took their seats, the teacher Miss Costaine Naveau stood up at the front of the class.

"Morning class." she shouted over the chattering teenagers.

"Morning Miss Naveau."

"Okay, let's see who'd here. Ballista?"

"Here Miss."

"Crocness?"

"Here."

"Faetal?"

"Yes Miss."

"Gildar?"

"Yeah."

"Knightriss?"

"Present."

"Kookaburra?"

"Here."

"Madeva?"

"Yeah."

"Shaiden?"

"Here."

"Skabb?"

"'Sup?"

"Thorne?"

"Yeah."

"Tinkor?"

"Yes. Here."

"Vane?"

"Here."

"Okay, our lesson for today is on defence strategies." There was a groan from the class. "Here's a question for you all. An attacker is trying to distract you by heckling you, what do you do?"

Kook stuck his hand up. "Answer them, and confuse them?" he asked, hopefull for some credit for once.

"No, anyone else? Knightriss, what about you?"

"You ignore them and keep your focus."

"That's correct, you should always keep your focus, if you let the attacker distract you they will then get the advantage, that is the worst thing that you can do as defender."

Kook put his hand up again. "But Miss, what if you confuse them, then they won't be able to concentrate."

"Well Kookaburra, the main thing to remember about attackers is that they want you to answer, as soon as you do they'll start to find your weaknesses and use them against you, they'll start to pick up the fact that you're an easy target, which can make you much more vulnerable, do you understand?"

"Yes miss."

"Okay, I'd like you all to open your textbooks and take this down."

Everyone got their books out and opened them on a fresh page, Kook had just got his book out and his pen in his hand when he was instantly distracted by Shaiden, she was sat right next to him, Kook had had a crush on her for a while now, it was his plans to ask her to the end of year prom, Kook turned to the back of his textbook and started to doodle.

"Kookaburra, are you listening?" the teacher asked.

Kook looked back up, startled. "Oh, yes miss."

"Well what;s the answer to this question? If I'm an attacker at close range, what weapon would you use to stop me?"

Kook was silent, he didn't know the answer, he had to get this right.

"We've just gone over this." Miss Naveau added.

"Erm...the Vile Volley?"

The other defenders started to snigger at his answer, that was obviously the wrong answer, no one was sniggering more than Gildar, him and Kook have never seen eye to eye.

"No, the weapon you'd use is the slimeballs. You clearly haven't been paying attention Kook. If you don't listen, how are you going to be able to pass the final exam?"

"Sorry Miss."

Kook could feel a pair of eyes looking at him, he looked to his left, Gildar was looking at him who placed his finger and thumb in the shape of an L on his forehead, when he turned away, Kook tore out a bit of a page from his text book, scrunched it up and threw it at Gildar, Gildar instantly turned around, he looked annoyed, the paper ball was now down at his feet, Kook saw a change in Gildar's eyes as he picked it up, Miss Naveau had her back turned, Gildar saw his chance, while the teacher had her back turned, Gildar threw the paper at her back, she also turned around instantly.

"Who threw that?" she asked, furious.

Gildar looked at Kook.

"Seriously Miss, it wasn't me, it was..."

Miss Naveau looked at Kook's book and noticed the torn page.

"Then why is there a torn page in your textbook?"

"Because I...and then he..."

"Kookaburra, outside now!"

Both Kook and Miss Naveau walked outside the classroom, Gildar was fairly smug with himself.

"Nice one Gildar." said Skabb.

They both high fived, but not everyone was happy with that plan of action.

"That was really mean Gildar." said Faetal.

"He's the one who started it, so I finished it.

"But Kook doesn't deserve to be accused for something he didn't do. When they walk back inside, just tell the teacher that it was you."

"No way, she'll put me on detention and we've got a big game tomorrow after school, I can't miss it."

When Kook and Miss Naveau walked back into the classroom, Miss Naveau was still angryand Kook was really down, he saw back down in his seat and rested his head on the desk.

"Kook, what happened?" Faetal asked.

"I've got detention for three days."

"You didn't deserve that."

Faetal looked over at Gildar who was watching.

"No, I'm not saying anything."

"Okay everyone, settle down, let's not get too excited."

Later on that day, when it was break time, Faetal, Ballista and Shaiden were in the canteen, Ballista and Shaiden were busy talking, but Faetal was really distracted by what happened with Gildar and Kook.

"Are you alright Faetal, you look down." Ballista asked.

"I'm thinking about Gildar and Kook."

"Is it about what happened in that lesson this morning?"

"Yeah, I didn't know that Gildar would be able to stoop that low."

"What don't you just tell Miss Naveau yourself?" Shaiden asked.

"And be a snitch?"

"Kook's obviously very upset about it."

"I suppose I could do it for Kook's sake. But I may have to tell Miss Naveau tomorrow."

Later that afternoon, when everyone else had gone home, Ballista, Faetal, Gildar and Skabb stayed behind, Skabb and Gildar had to train for the big rugby game tomorrow afternoon after school, while Ballista, Faetal and a bunch of other girls were practising their cheer routine. After thirty minutes practice, it was time for a short break, Ballista sat down on one of the benches nearby to catch her breath as she watched the boys training, Gildar soon noticed her looking, he fixed onto her gaze, and winked.

"Do you think Gildar will ask me to the prom, I think he likes me." she asked.

"I don't know, do you like him?"

"I don't know, I've never thought about it."

Meanwhile, Kook had just got home, he was expecting his parents to go mad when he tells them what's happened, no doubt he's going to get a lecture from his father, like he always does.

"How was school son?" Kook's dad asked, looking up from his paper.

"Not great."

"What happened?"

"I've got detention for the next three days."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. Gildar was being mean to me, so I threw some scrunched up paper at him, then he threw that at the teacher and I got the blame.

"You answered back?"

"Yeah."

"Son, I've told you before, you should..."

"You should never answer back because that gives them the advantage and they figure out your weaknesses, the same applies to attackers, I know dad. I'm going for a lie down."

Kook slowly marched up the stairs, dragging his bag behind him, when he got into his room, he threw his bag on the floor and fell backwards onto the bed. Above him was his poster of his favourite defender, and inspiration, Lyonell Rommel.

_"Some day, I'll be one of the greats."_ he thought.

Science was the first lesson the next morning, not everyone's favourite subject, unless they were learning how to make the slime.

"Okay, who's here?" said the teacher Mr Capano. "Ballista?"

"Here sir."

"Crocness?"

"Here."

"Faetal?" There was no reply. "No Faetal? That's not like her. Gildar?"

"Yeah."

"Knightriss?"

"Present.

"Kookaburra."

"Here."

"Madeva?"

"Yeah."

"Shaiden?"

"Yes sir."

"Skabb?"

"Yeah."

"Thorne?"

"Here sir."

"Tinkor?"

"Yes."

"Vane?"

"Yeah."

"Okay for todays lesson..."

At that point Faetal finally arrived, she was carrying a small note.

"Sorry I'm late sir, I've got a message for you from Miss Naveau."

Faetal handed over the note and Mr Capano read every word with detail.

"Kookaburra and Gildar you're wanted in Miss Naveau's office, Faetal, you're needed too." he explained.

Gildar was rather annoyed being called to the office, he could tell that something wasn't right and someone must have told the truth, his money was on Kook.

"What have you said?" he asked.

"I haven't said anything."

"Yeah, very likely."

"Shut up, both of you."

Everyone who goes to see Miss Naveau in her office always has a bad feeling, Miss Naveau was a rather scary teacher if you got her angry.

"Morning Kookaburra, Gildar. I've been told this morning that there's been a slight misunderstanding. Faetal came to me and told me the truth about yesterday.

"It was you?"

"I told you to tell the truth and you didn't listen to me."

"Kookaburra, I'm sorry for accusing you. And Gildar, I'm very disappointed in you. Behaviour like that isn't acceptable, but making matters worse, you blamed another student for your actions. Starting tomorrow, you will be on detention after school for one hour for the rest of the week."

"At least I don't miss the game."

"Actually, I've informed Mr Volckert about your behaviour and he's agreed to not allow you to play in today's game."

"What?"

"Kookaburra, thank you for coming, you may leave, and thank you too Faetal for informing me."

"Thank you miss." said Kook. "Does this mean I'm off detention?"

"It does indeed."

Faetal and a rather relieved Kook, left the office and walked back down the desertd corridors to boring old Science.

"Thanks for that Faetal." Kook said halfway back.

"It's alright,that's what frieds do. Help each other when their in need."


	7. Chapter 7

**Kook The Comic**

Another quiet morning in the Splatalot castle, the defenders were off duty and Kook was on his own, Kook was sat by himself on the castle battlements.

_"I'm bored."_ he thought.

There was never anything to do on such a quiet, lazy day like this...then Kook got the best idea ever, the jumped down and sneaked back inside, he hadn't done anything like this for a long time.

Kook sneaked past the defenders lounge where everyone was currently hanging out, and went all the way to Gildar's room, this was going to be so worth it, he found Gildar's favourite hairbrush and sprinkled a pinch of his special super-itchy-itching powder on top.

_"I can't wait to see Gildar's face later."_ Kook thought as he sneaked back out.

But Kook wasn't finished yet, he continued to walk down the corridor to Skabb's room, using an air horn and some tape, as accurately as he could he taped to horn to the wall, Skabb always flings the door back, that will give him a real surprise.

"Let's see how fearless Skabb really is."

Kook could hear some footsteps coming towards him down the corridor, it might be Skabb, he does normally come back to his room round about now, Kook quickly hid himself out of sight and watched as Skabb flung the door back.

"Agh! What the...?" Skabb yelled as the horn blared out.

"Hee hee." Kook sniggered before sneaking off again, this has been the best day ever for Kook in a long time.

Kook couldn't stop sniggering, what will it be like when Gildar finds his "surprise"?

"KOOK!" A familiar voice shouted.

"That'll be Gildar."

Kook was eager to see what was going on, maybe it won't have worked as well as he thought, the itching powder was quite visible on the brush, hopefully Gildar didn't notice it.

Gildar hadn't noticed the powder, Kook almost burst out with laughter when he saw Gildar, he was furiously scratching his head.

"What's wrong Gildar? Are you feeling a bit...itchy?"

"I knew that you'd have something to do with this, I'm gonna get you this time."

"Good luck with that."

The rest of the defenders knew that this time Kook has gone a bit too far and this has been going on for too long, something had to be done about this, and it had to be done now, Knightriss arranged for a meeting with the defenders apart from Kook.

"I think that we can all agree that Kook's pranks are getting out of hand." she said.

"I'm sick of it." Gildar explained.

"Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Well we can't kick him out, that's too harsh." said Shaiden.

"Too harsh?" Gildar replied. "What about all the things he's done to me?"

"Shaiden's right Gildar, no matter how annoying Kook must be, no one deserves to be kicked out for a couple of harmless pranks."

"We could give him a taste of his own medicine." Ballista suggested.

"You mean, play some of our own pranks on him and see how he likes it?" said Thorne.

"Exactly."

"Great idea."

"All those in favour?"

Everyone raised their hands, Kook was in deep trouble now.

"So what are we going to do?" Vane asked.

"Well before we talk about that could you just wait until I get this stuff washed out of my hair?"

After a couple of hours of planning, the prank was decided on, Gildar, Thorne, Skabb, Ballista and Shaiden were the ones in charge, the ones who were going to be getting the whole prank together.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Gildar asked.

"Yep."

"Me and Thorne will take care of the bed prank, Ballista, Shaiden, you can see to the sofa prank, and Skabb you're in charge of the grand finale."

"Good luck everyone." said Thorne.

Gildar and Thorne quickly went to Kook's room, Kook was currently out for a walk, he was going to be about an hour, that was plenty of time to get everything ready.

"So what's the plan?" Thorne asked as they walked inside.

"I'm going to put this inflatable pool in his nest then we're going to fill it with water." Gildar explained.

"Then when we put his sheets on top and he comes for a lie down..."

"He's going to get a very wet surprise."

Gildar lined the nest with the pool while Thorne connected the hose to the sink tap in Kook's bathroom.

"What about the girls?" he asked.

"They're going to hollow out the sofa, then one of them is going to hide inside and surprise Kook when he walks in looking for us."

"Then Skabb comes over with the bucket of slime."

"Exactly, the ultimate prank."

They filled up the pool and stretched Kook's bedsheet over to hide it from sight, there was about ten to twenty minutes before Kook got back, this task had been completed, so Gildar and Thorne went to check on the girls, see how they were doing.

"How are you doing with that girls?" Gildar asked.

"We've nearly finished." Ballista replied.

"Could you do with a hand?" Thorne offered.

"No, we're alright."

"Done."

Two minutes later Skabb came running through the door.

"Kook's coming." he whispered.

"Okay, places everyone."

Gildar, Thorne and Shaiden sat down on the spare sofa while Shaiden slid into the sofa. Kook walked past the lounge door to his room, Gildar and Thorne were both sniggering. Kook closed the door, took off his boots and sat in his nest.

"Agh! What the...Gildar." Kook clambered out and stormed out of his room and down the corridor. "Gildar! Where are you?"

"I think he's found the pool." Thorne whispered.

They could hear Kook get closer and closer to them, soon he appeared in the doorway, his trousers and socks were soaked through, Gildar nearly exploded with laughter.

"Gildar..."

At that point Ballista jumped up from the sofa.

"Ragh!" she screamed.

"AGH!"

Kook went to walk out of the room but Skabb blocked his exit, Kook turned to see him stood there with a large bucket of slime, Kook tried to get away in time, but his reactions were too slow, Skabb had already poured the slime over his head.

"What's going on?" Kook asked.

"Payback for all those pranks you've played on us recently." Gildar explained.

"Did I go too far?"

"A bit."

"I guess that I should apologize. So, I'm sorry.

"Apology accepted."

"I'm going for a wash."

"You could use the pool, there's water there anyway."

"Don't push it."


End file.
